By Michael Nolan

Show of hands – how many urban gardeners out there either bag up the leaves and grass clippings and put them on the curb or pay someone to take them off your hands?

Now of those, how many spend money on fertilizers and plant foods to give your garden plants an extra boost? That’s what I thought.

Today’s lesson on budget gardening is to get trashy.

No, not COPS trashy. In this case we’re talking about using what you already have on hand – probably what you’re tossing in the garbage pail – to turbo charge your urban garden. Now I understand that a lot of urban gardeners don’t have the space to compost (some of you don’t even have a yard at all), and I’ve got a few pointers for you Read the rest of this entry »

By Vanessa Richins

Are you interested in a way to possibly get some or all of your gardening supplies free? Check out Freecycle and Craigslist!

Freecycle is an international non-profit organization dedicated to keeping items out of the landfills and building communities at the same time. Local chapters are run through Yahoo Groups.

You can find your local chapter at www.freecycle.org. Members are able to post up items they don’t need anymore. You are also able to request items you are looking for – however, please do be polite and offer some items up in return, if possible.

I run my local Freecycle Read the rest of this entry »

By Michael Nolan

I’ve been offering advice on home gardening for quite a few years now, and the most common excuse I hear from people who don’t have a garden is that they lack the space they need.

Nothing sets me off like the word can’t, and most often these people get a full scale lesson in gardening for small spaces whether they like it or not. Just about anyone, anywhere can handle a bit of container gardening.

Did you know that in the 1940s here in America nearly half of all fresh produce in this country was grown at home in Victory Gardens? Over the years it seems as though we as a society become so spoiled that we forgot how to take care of ourselves. But I digress. Let’s discuss how you — regardless of your available space — can grow at least some of your own vegetables and herbs at home.

Read the rest of this entry »

By Cindy Naas

Containers are the perfect option for city gardeners since they take up so little room.

Growing vegetables is a good enough reason to container garden, but if you want to make your garden do double duty, here are some ways to make your city garden look as great as the veggies will taste.

These plants and combinations will add a colorful splash to your garden:

1. ‘Bright Lights’ swiss chard – this is a beautiful plant. The stalks of chard come in orange, red, pink, cream and lavender and make a wonderful backdrop for pots of pansies. One of my favorite containers always has ‘Bright Lights’, some purple icicle pansies and some trailing green ivy. By the time we’ve eaten all the chard, it’s time to swap out the pansies for some hot weather flowers.

2. Tomatoes and marigolds – the marigold is a great Read the rest of this entry »

By Reggie Solomon

• Urban Garden Casual welcomes Michael Nolan and Cindy Naas to our casual team. This week Michael helped up us create recycled seed trays while Cindy helped up answer everything we always wanted to know about container gardening.

• Philip at Philip Garden’s Blog shares how an abandoned elevated railway in West Manhattan, New York is being transformed into a truly spectacular urban oasis.

• Anthony at The Compost Bin shows us how to make a compost bin from a plastic trash can in case you can’t purchase one of those $200 urban tumblers.

• Urban Garden Casual hearts The Brooklyn Green Team – a team of Brooklyn residents dedicated to reducing our carbon footprint and fixing the planet.